Rose, Rose, I love you with an aching heart
What is your future now we have to part?
Standing on the jetty as the steamer moves away
Flower of Malaya, I cannot stay

Make way, oh, make way, for my Eastern Rose
Men crowd in dozens everywhere she goes
In her rickshaw on the street or in a cabaret
"Please make way for Rose," you can hear them say

All my life I shall remember oriental music and you in my arms
Perfumed flowers in your tresses, lotus-scented breezes and swaying palms

Rose, Rose, I love you with your almond eyes
Fragrant and slender, neath tropical skies
I must cross the seas again and never see you more
way back to my home on a distant shore.

All my life I shall remember oriental music and you in my arms
Perfumed flowers in your tresses, lotus-scented breezes and swaying palms

Rose, Rose, I leave you; my ship is in the bay
Kiss me farewell, now there is nothing to say
East is east and west is west. Our worlds are far apart
I must leave you now, but I leave my heart

Rose, Rose, I love you with an aching heart
What is your future now we have to part?
Standing on the jetty as the steamer moves away
Flower of Malaya, I cannot stay